How to Make Laverbread Breakfast – a True Welsh Delicacy

Described by Richard Burton as “Welshman’s Caviar”, laverbread is a delicacy that’s made principally from seaweed plucked from the shores of Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire.

It’s washed into a paste, boiled for hours and is, alongside Welsh rarebit, Glamorgan sausages, and Welsh cakes, one of this blessed country’s most popular native dishes.

The first record of laverbread being eaten by the Welsh was in 1607 in William Camden’s Brittanica. Swansea has played a key role in the history of this delicacy, where it was processed and distributed at markets and today much of South Wales’ laverbread is produced nearby in the Gower.

How to make laverbread breakfast

This laverbread recipe was typically cooked as nutritious, high-energy sustenance for pit workers before they started a hard day’s work. It’s really easy to make too.

After collecting the laver from the seashore, boil it for an hour or two and then mince it so that it’s a soft, gelatinous paste. Or you could cheat and buy it ready pasted!

Then mix it with 50g of oatmeal and leave to solidify for around 20 minutes. Once you’ve fried some bacon in farmhouse butter until crispy and put it aside, roll the laverbread into small patties and cook it quickly in the hot pan until crispy.

Blasus (delicious)!

Want to try some authentic Welsh laverbread?

Here at The Dragon Hotel, we’re a proudly Welsh establishment. That’s why, when you stay here, you can include laverbread in our award-winning Macdonald Signature Breakfast. Take a look online today!